08 March, 2013

JUST 50km outside Lahad Datu, one has to pass through Silabukan, which has a picturesque coastline. On a clear day, one can see a mass of land which is part of the Tawi-Tawi islands off the Philippines.
Bongao Island, the capital, is clearly visible. Originally a backwater village, Bongao, where the majority of the population is Muslim, is rapidly developing.
It takes only 20 minutes by speedboat for the Filipinos to reach our shores.

That's how close we are physically.
But there is also another dimension to our close proximity.
The locals are fond of telling outsiders that it is normal for their Filipino relatives to come to Malaysia for a game of football or volleyball, and then return to the Philippines on the same day.
Obviously we are not even talking about clearing Immigration.
The Filipino influence on our side is so strong that some of the grocery shops are referred to as “sari-sari”.

At the Danggan Tungku fishing village, one can look across and see Sibutu, which is also part of the Tawi-Tawi islands.
From where I stood, the villagers were talking excitedly about the fighter jets bombing Kg Tanduo.
I arrived in this east coast Sabah town yesterday as the Malaysian police and army continued their mop-up operations after a massive attack on Tuesday.

The waters of the Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea have always been a dangerous area, well-known for piracy.
The pirates not only prey on fishermen but also huge container ships. They are reportedly well-armed and use high-speed motorboats.

But there are also more dangerous elements the host of Muslim radicals fighting for an independent Mindanao Islamic state being one of them. Their long history includes kidnapping of tourists and attacks on Sabahan towns.
In 1996, Semporna was attacked twice, which included an assault on its police station by 10 to 20 pirates armed with M-16 rifles.

In 2000, Abu Sayyaf militants arrived on the Sipadan resort island and kidnapped 21 people comprising tourists and resort workers, for ransom.
Lahad Datu is located in the Tawau division. It's an hour's flight from Kota Kinabalu, some 400km away.
Many orang semenanjung, as the locals call Malaysians from the peninsular, may have heard of this place but would have trouble pinpointing its location.

On Feb 11, heavily armed militants arrived in Lahad Datu and took over the village of Kg Tanduo. Inevitably, the whole world then came to know about this place.
The Sabah attacks have also provided history and geographical lessons for Malaysians. Most of us are learning, for the first time, about the lesser-known ethnic groups that exist in Malaysia, like Bajau, Bisaya, Kadazan Dusun, Murut, Dumpas, Illanun, Kwijau, Maragang, Orang Cocos, Orang Sungai, Rungus and of course, Tausug or the Suluks.

It would even surprise many Malaysians, who have only read about the controversial Project IC to naturalise the foreigners in the 1980s, that many Filipinos who settled in Sabah came from as far back as the Chinese from the southern seas.

In fact, in the 1970s, when the late Tun Mustapha was chief minister, he allowed more Filipinos, fleeing the fighting in the Philippines, to settle in Sabah.
But it is also this familiarity and even possible ties with their local kin that might have given the intruders the advantage.

According to military intelligence sources, they knew the terrain around the village well.
The conclusion is that they had visited the area before and were well acquainted with the heavy undergrowth and foliage in the hilly terrain.
The team of six Malaysian policemen which walked into a group of 30 intruders, which had used a white flag as a ruse, were surrounded and shot at by two snipers. Two of the Malaysians died.

About 130km away, where the Semporna water village is located, there are at least 300 homes on stilts and some have been suspected to provide support for these terrorists, who killed six other Malaysian security personnel in another encounter.
These Filipinos showed no mercy, beheading two of our men, and carrying out extremely cruel, gruesome acts on our men before killing them. They also gouged out the eyes of one of their victims.
It is the fanaticism in these intruders, with their readiness to die for their cause, which has startled our authorities.

But there is an expensive, if not, painful lesson, to learn from here. The Sabah coastal line is porous but the reality is that we have exposed our lax security along our coast. This is not the first time, but unfortunately this is also the worst security crisis in years.
The authorities' mantra of assuring Malaysians that “all is well and under control” will only be greeted with cynicism unless we take a really concerted and serious effort to beef up our maritime security along the coast.

We need to invest well to guard our 4,675km of coastline and our waters (including the Exclusive Economic Zones claimed) of 574,000sq km.
The fact is that the waters that Malaysia has to maintain security and sovereignty over are nearly twice the size of peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak combined. That's not all, the distance between the peninsula and the two states is about 1,200km.
The intrusions have shown how vulnerable we are when facing external threats.

This time, the intruders were a rag-tag but well-trained team of rebels. A full-fledged conventional military attack would be more worrisome. We cannot take for granted that Malaysia is free from any external threat.

We have been blessed with peace and stability but the wake-up call has been sounded. In fact, the alarm bells are ringing out loud. Let's clean up our act we owe it to our fallen heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the nation. Don't let their deaths be in vain.

Iqra'/ Bacalah

Behind The front lines of every war in the world

Soft Power, The means to success in World Politics

SOFT POWER

Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.

America has long had a great deal of soft power; young people behind The Iron Curtain listening to American music and news on Radio Free Europe; of Chinese students symbolizing their protests in Tiananment Square by creating a replica of the Statue of Liberty; of newly liberated Afghans in 2001 asking for a copy of Bill of Rights; of young Iranians today surreptitiously watching banned American videos and satellite television broadcasts in the privacy of their homes. These are all examples of America's soft power.

When you can get others to admire your ideals and to want what you want, you do not have to spend as much on sticks and carrots to move them in your direction. Seduction is always more effective than coercion, and many values like democracy, human rights, and individual opportunities are deeply seductive.

Much of American soft power has been produced by Hollywood, Harvard, Microsoft, Facebook and Michael Jordan

(Joseph S. Nye Jr, former Dean of The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, was Chairman of National Intelligent Council and Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration)

NO SATU

Tokoh Kedah "Behind The Enigma"

Monte Zain

Monte Zain, Out Of Malaya

Monte Zain leaved his hometown of Alor Setar at the age of 20, he sailed as a seaman on a merchant ship on a voyage to the New World to pursue his unusual dream of becoming a Hollywood actor.

A young man of lesser character and determination would have been completely overwhelmed by cultural shock during his first week on American soil in June 1947 as he walked the streets of Harlem alone-surviving on bread and water from drinking fountains in New York Central Park - sleeping in subway trains and on park benches.

Deligence and thrift saw Monte Zain on the road towards an initial career as an actor. He studied and worked, sometime on three shifts in restaurant to support himself and his family back in Malaya, and not forgetting to set aside five dollars in a savings account from each paycheck to assist his friends in the "Saberkas" theater group to come to America for higher studies.

Life expose him to many types of people and interpersonal experiences. His likeness to Sabu of "The Elephant Boy" fame was a strong magnetic attraction in his many encounters with the opposite sex.

Circumtances beyond the control of mortal man intervened and short stopped his dream of a career on the Big Screen, but not before two of his Malayan friends came to join him in California for higher education opportunities. As for himself, Monte Zain joined the US Army, primarily, out of necessity and survival.

He finally became a citizen of the United States and settled permenantly in California with his Japanese-born soul mate.

Tenang-tenang Sg Merbok

Jangan disangka tiada buaya

Jetty Merbok

This picture was not part of what I had in mind as the idea was to capture the sunset at the jetty in Merbok Beradik**. After having shot the sunset, I found the bridge was basked in the twilight of the dusk and the artificial lighting from the lamp posts. Couples with bridge's own reflection in the river, I quickly pulled out the camera to record the moment!